Prisoner swap included old letter from Arad - "Israeli" newspaper

Source: Agencies/ Compiled by Daily Star, 23-10-2007
Hizbullah has given "Israel" a letter written by an air force navigator who has been missing for more than 20 years, an "Israeli" newspaper reported on Monday. Purportedly written by Ron Arad to his wife in 1986 shortly following his capture after being shot down over Lebanon, the letter was handed over to "Israel" as part of a prisoner and body swap with Hizbullah last week, the Yediot Ahronot daily said.
Hizbullah officials refused to comment on the report.
Last Monday, "Israel" traded the bodies of two Hizbullah fighters and a kidnapped civilian in exchange for the remains of a drowned "Israeli" settler, whose body washed up on the Lebanese coast. The swap at the Naqoura border crossing was mediated by the United Nations and Germany.
Arad`s wife, Tami, confirmed that the letter was from her husband by the handwriting and the intimate terms of endearment they used for each other, Yediot Ahronot reported.
Arad has been missing since he ejected from a fighter-bomber in 1986 during Lebanon`s 1975-90 Civil War. He was captured by members of Amal, headed by Nabih Berri, who is now speaker of the Lebanese Parliament.
"Israel" refuses to declare Arad officially dead. In January 2006, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said he was probably dead, adding he had no proof.
In a televised speech one day after the swap, Nasrallah said there was "positive progress" in negotiations to swap two "Israeli" soldiers the group captured last year for Lebanese detainees in "Israeli" prisons.
"I can talk for the first time of the existence of positive progress in these main negotiations, the ones linked to the `Israeli` soldiers and the prisoners," Nasrallah said.